It's getting dangerous these days...

shack

Unfortunately, it hit way too close to home today

A murder took place this morning in the parking lot of a Credit Union branch here in town. The victim was a 46 year old woman. The gunman tried to enter the Credit Union after shooting the woman...but the door was locked since they were not yet open for business. 7 minutes later and the gunman could have been in the building...probably firing away at everyone in it.

My wife is the manager of this branch and the 14 employees that work there.

The victim was in a pickup truck using an ATM at the Credit Union, about 8:23 AM. She was accompanied by her 21 year old son who is mentally disabled. He is autistic with the mental capacity of a 3-4 year old. As she was at the ATM, the gunman approached her. She tried to drive away, but he shot her with one of two handguns he carried. She crashed the pickup truck into the corner of the credit union building near the ATMs. Several more shots were fired through the back window of the truck.

The gunman then opened fire on another person who was in his vehicle at another ATM at the time. Two shots hit the truck but the driver was not injured. The gunman fired several rounds at others in the parking lot and at cars on the street in front of the branch. No other vehicle or person was hit by the rounds.

The gunman then returned to the wrecked pickup truck and yanked the boy from the passenger seat, then got into the truck. The gunman was trying to push the victim out of the truck when officers arrived. An officer ordered the gunman to exit the truck and drop his weapons, but he refused. Police then shot the gunman, hitting him in the neck and then disarmed him. Unfortunately he survived.

Even though they pronounced the victim dead about 30 minutes later at the hospital, my wife was talking with the police as they removed her body from the truck and it was apparent she was dead at that time. A couple of her employees saw the initial attack through the drive-up teller window...just a few feet in front of them. My wife did not see the attack as she was making sure her employees were moving to a safe area of the building and calling police.

The accused gunman is a 20 year old male. He was seen earlier in the morning walking on a nearby street with two dogs and he was beating them, and shouting at cars passing by according to a witness. He is charged with one count of felony murder, one count of attempted first degree murder and three counts of aggravated assault.

Needless to say...it was not a particularly good day. She and her employees are safe...but it will be a challenge to deal with what happened for some time to come.

cfrizz

Wow. I'm glad your wife & her coworkers are all safe Shack.

zarrdoss

wow thats sucks! glad your wife is OK but sad for the victims.

cnh

That's scary stuff, Shack. Glad to hear your wife is safe! I've been in a few sticky situations, myself, years ago in NYC but that's not Tennessee.

Unfortunately, we'll probably see more of this kind of thing rather than less.

cnh

treitz3

Damn, Shack. Damn.

[Deleted User]

Too close, way too close. I'm glad your wife is okay.

mrbiron

and now we get to pay for him to get a life of luxury behind bars.......:mad:
Cops shoulda kept shooting until the only possibility of identifying him would be by a few strands of hair and the initials on his shoes.

ratster

Glad your wife is ok.
Seems like the last few weeks there has been a lot of this kinda crap goin on around here.

shack

Thanks for all the kind thoughts.

As bad as it is...it COULD have been worse...much worse...and we are thankful for that

mrbiron wrote:

Cops shoulda kept shooting until the only possibility of identifying him would be by a few strands of hair and the initials on his shoes.

At the time the police did not know the woman in the truck was dead...in fact, they thought she was still alive and struggling with the gunman instead of him trying to push her out of the drivers seat. They did their job...they stopped him before anyone else was hurt. There are ZERO complaints about them.

Tony M

mrbiron wrote: »

and now we get to pay for him to get a life of luxury behind bars.......:mad:
Cops shoulda kept shooting until the only possibility of identifying him would be by a few strands of hair and the initials on his shoes.

^X10
I hate that myself!! It's obvious he is the criminal now,so there should be No trial, only a 15 cents 22 cal. bullet put where it needs to go.:mad:



I'm sorry for the woman and her relatives and friends. I've known and seen what it will do to those that were there. Some will probably leave in 6 months due to the re-occuring thoughts and memories. Sorry to here about this. Really sorry.

I'm glad your wife and her employees are alive.

janmike

Very scary indeed . Like you said, it could have been much worse.

schwarcw

Very scary!! I am so glad your wife or any of the Bank employees were not hurt.

I will pray for the unfortunate young man who is now without his mom. He must be really shaken.

treitz3

schwarcw wrote:

I will pray for the unfortunate young man who is now without his mom. He must be really shaken.

No doubt. :frown:

disneyjoe7

I'm glad your wife and all employees of Credit Union where unharmed and safe. And yes way too close.

Tour2ma

Glad your good lady is alright. Steve.

Not that you have to be told, but hold her extra close tonite...

mrbigbluelight

As you said, Shack, it could have been much, much worse.

I hope the deceased woman has extended family that will be able to help with the autistic son.

dkg999

Shack - glad your wife is OK! Scary stuff. Unfortunately it seems there are no "safe" areas anymore, this stuff can happen anywhere.

And once again someone noticed a person behaving in a non-acceptable manner before the violent incident took place. That's were the crime started and might of been stopped.

sucks2beme

What's scary is these guys lately don't care. They don't use the gun to
threaten, they shoot and then see what they can find.
Not a lick of sense or remorse. The police should of aimed better.

ohskigod

wow, thank god it didn't turn out worse, feel for the woman and her family of course.

sounds like you wife has a good head on her shoulders.

stuff like this can happen to any of us at anytime, thats when we realize how thin the veil of civilized society is

tonyb

Sorry to hear this,and glad the wife is ok along with the rest of her co-workers.

Damn, this does make one think though. It could have turned out way different.

SCompRacer

Sad to hear.....glad your wife is OK.

hearingimpared

I'm glad your wife is okay Steve but am very saddened by the results of this killing spree. I hope your wife and her fellow employees can recover from this quickly but having had experience with this type of thing to a certain extent, it doesn't make the mental anguish of an incident like this an easy thing to let go.

I'll pray for your wife and her colleagues.

shack

It was reported this morning that the woman had stopped by the ATM to get cash to take her son Christmas shopping for his older sister, her children and his Grandmother.

hearingimpared

Good Lord! It's bad enough that these tragedies occur but at this time of year it's makes it more of a tragedy IMHO. It is quite scary!

Mike Kozak

Hunt down that scumbag and put a bullet or 3 in his head!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

steveinaz

Glad your wife is OK; gone are the days of simply robbing someone, now somebody has to die in the process. It's a different criminal element these days.

TroyD

I don't even know what to say....but, I'm glad that your wife is ok.

BDT

heiney9

Steve, that's horrible. Glad your wife is alright. I used to be banker and we were robbed by two gunmen taking over the bank and I had a dbl barrel shot gun pointed at the back of my head while I laid on the floor. It's a horribly frightening experience.

A few weeks ago I witnessed a drug robbery/murder right outside the front of my house. Saw the guy laying on the sidewalk, called 911 and watched him bleed out. And I live among the nicer neighborhoods in town. This kind of stuff happens everywhere and to anyone.

It's a crazy, crazy world out there lately and this guy sounds like he had a screw loose beyond just wanting to rob the place.

I can't imagine how you and your family are feeling right now. I know how I felt after having a gun pointed at the back of my head, but that can't compare to thinking if the timing was different your wife or other employee could have been a victim.

Take care and try to have a Merry Christmas

H9

George Grand

Too close to home is correct. Take care Steve. I'm glad it didn't turn out even worse. That poor, poor boy.

madmax

I often wonder what it would be like if everyone had guns and knew how to use them properly. I think we would have a much better behaved more civilized country.

shack

George Grand wrote:

That poor, poor boy.

You are quite right George.

While I'm sure she will be missed by her mother, her daughter, her grand children and her friends...her son is a Low Functioning/Severe Autistic young man needing 24/7 care and she was his sole caregiver. As I understand, his sister is a single mom with two young children and the grandmother is physically not able to provide proper care for him. He will probably end up as a ward of the state to some degree. He is not fully aware of the scope of what has happened...and may never be. It is a very sad situation for all involved.